European Union

Making the EMU: The Politics of Budgetary Surveillance and the Enforcement of Maastricht

James D. Savage

The Maastricht Treaty and the Stability Growth Pact demand that EU member states comply with their famous deficit and debt requirements of three and sixty per cent of GDP. Yet, how can ... More

The Maastricht Treaty and the Stability Growth Pact demand that EU member states comply with their famous deficit and debt requirements of three and sixty per cent of GDP. Yet, how can the EU's leaders be certain that these targets are met? Is a three percent deficit in Belgium equivalent to one in Italy or France? This book explores how the Maastricht Treaty's budgetary surveillance procedure monitors member state budgetary policies, harmonizes their budgetary data, and effectively determines which member states qualified for member status and are subject to the Pact's sanctions. This book provides an examination of how the EU entrusted the credibility of these critical budgetary figures to a relatively minor European Commission agency, and what effect the surveillance procedure has on the making of the EMU and the enforcement of Maastricht. Less

Migration, Citizenship, and the European Welfare State: A European Dilemma

Carl-Ulrik Schierup, Peo Hansen, Stephen Castles

This book examines the current dilemmas of liberal anti-racist policies in European societies, linking two discourses that are normally quite separate in social science: immigration and ... More

This book examines the current dilemmas of liberal anti-racist policies in European societies, linking two discourses that are normally quite separate in social science: immigration and ethnic relations research on the one hand, and the political economy of the welfare state on the other. Gunnar Myrdal’s questions in An American Dilemma are rephrased with reference to Europe’s current dual crisis — that of the established welfare state facing a declining capacity to maintain equity, and that of the nation state unable to accommodate incremental ethnic diversity. The book compares developments across the European Union with the contemporary US experience of poverty, race, and class, highlighting the major moral-political dilemma emerging across the EU out of the discord between declared ideals of citizenship and actual exclusion from civil, political, and social rights. Drawing on case-study analysis of migration, the changing welfare state, and labour markets in the UK, Germany, Italy, and Sweden, the book charts the immense variety of Europe’s social and political landscape. Less

The National Co-ordination of EU Policy: The European Level

Vincent Wright

Hussein Kassim, Anand Menon, B. Guy Peters (eds)

This book is the second of two volumes in which leading scholars examine the way in which European Union (EU) member states co-ordinate their European policies, and investigates the ... More

This book is the second of two volumes in which leading scholars examine the way in which European Union (EU) member states co-ordinate their European policies, and investigates the structures, institutions and processes put in place by national governments in Brussels. The companion volume, published in 2000, examines the national co-ordination of EU policy at the domestic level. This second book offers a comprehensive, comparative analysis of national co-ordination at the European level. It investigates the way in which eleven member states—Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and the United Kingdom—co-ordinate their European policy in Brussels. It examines their co-ordination ambitions, the value attached to co-ordination and their conception of it, and the strategies adopted by the member states for defining and defending a national position in EU policy-making. It looks in detail at the organization and operation of the permanent representations—the principal institution charged by governments with safeguarding the ‘national interest’ in Brussels—and at how, to what extent (indeed, whether) they succeed in reconciling their responsibilities as both agencies of the national government and part of the EU decision-making system. The book assesses the effectiveness of the various national arrangements in achieving their intended goals, and identifies the factors that influence or determine performance at the European level. The institutions, structures, and processes utilized by the member states in Brussels are compared with a view to discovering whether there is evidence of convergence around a common model or whether national differences persist. All of the chapters except for the Conclusion are extensively revised versions of papers presented at a workshop, held at Nuffield College, Oxford, on 13–14 May 1999. Less

The National Co-ordination of EU Policy: The Domestic Level

Hussein Kassim, Guy Peters, Vincent Wright (eds)

This book is the first of two volumes in which leading scholars examine the way in which member states of the European Union (EU) co-ordinate their European policies. Rather than looking ... More

This book is the first of two volumes in which leading scholars examine the way in which member states of the European Union (EU) co-ordinate their European policies. Rather than looking at the ‘Europeanization’ problematic within which the issue is usually addressed, it adopts a broader, more inclusive approach, examining domestic processes and investigating co-ordination in ten member states ––Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom –– looking at co-ordinating ambitions, the actors involved in EU policy-making, and the structures and processes by which policy is made. These particular countries were selected to cover the most important dimensions of variation among member states. From a comparative perspective, the book identifies and assesses the impact of the influences that have shaped systems of national co-ordination – the demands exerted by Union membership, the institutional structure of the national polity, the pre-existing balance between domestic institutions, administrative norms and values, and attitudes, both popular and elite, to European integration. It assesses the extent to which there has been a convergent response to the administrative challenges posed by membership on the part of the member states or whether a pattern of divergence emerges. The effectiveness of member states in influencing policy outcomes at the European level is also addressed. All the chapters except for that on Portugal and the Conclusion are substantially revised versions of papers presented at a workshop on co-ordinating EU policy held at Oxford in June 1998. The companion volume answers similar questions about national administrations in Brussels and looks at twelve member states; it is the first systematic examination of the role played by Permanent Representations in national EU policy-making. Less

Political Representation and Legitimacy in the European Union

Hermann Schmitt, Jacques Thomassen (eds)

How severe a problem is what many call the ‘democratic deficit’ of the EU? Despite a voluminous theoretical literature dealing with this question, there is hardly any systematic ... More

How severe a problem is what many call the ‘democratic deficit’ of the EU? Despite a voluminous theoretical literature dealing with this question, there is hardly any systematic empirical investigation of the effectiveness of the system of political representation in the EU, and of the legitimacy beliefs of EU citizens that spring from it. This book elaborates a conceptual framework for the empirical analysis of the alleged democratic deficit. Four dimensions of legitimacy beliefs are identified and analysed: the European political community; the scope of EU government; the institutions and processes of EU government; and EU policies. Based upon large‐scale representative surveys (the ‘European Representation Study’) among the mass publics, and different strata of the political elite of the EU and its member‐states, the book examines the conditions of political representation in the EU. The results demonstrate, by and large, that legitimacy beliefs of EU citizens are the more positive the less specific the object of identification and evaluations is, and that the process of political representation works pretty well as long as issues other than EU issues are concerned. These findings are finally discussed in view of familiar strategies for institutional reform of the EU. The book is arranged in two main parts: I. Legitimacy (4 Chs) and II. Representation ( 6Chs); it also has an introduction, a conclusion, and an appendix giving details of the European Representation Study. The book is one of two companion volumes that report on the results of this study. The other is The European Parliament, the National Parliaments, and European Integration (edited by Richard S. Katz and Bernhard Wessels), and is also published by OUP. Less

The Politics of Europeanization

Kevin Featherstone, Claudio M. Radaelli (eds)

The Politics of Europeanization looks at the political aspects of European integration from the viewpoint of domestic politics. In so doing, it goes beyond the classic analysis of ‘how ... More

The Politics of Europeanization looks at the political aspects of European integration from the viewpoint of domestic politics. In so doing, it goes beyond the classic analysis of ‘how policies are made in Brussels’ and raises instead the question ‘what is the power of Europe in national contexts?’.Whereas standard books on domestic politics and European integration look at different countries one by one, this volume embraces an innovative perspective based on specific concepts, indicators and a broad range of thematic issues. The contributors explain and question the ‘power of Europe’ by providing theoretical and empirical perspectives on domestic politics and institutions, government and administration, public policies, political actors, and business groups. The book has its origins in an international workshop on Europeanization organized while the editors were at the University of Bradford in May 2000, and a panel at the Political Studies Association annual conference the previous month; these initiatives were taken in the context of establishing the ‘Research Unit on Europeanization’ at the University of Bradford as a forum for activity in this area. It offers a new research agenda for the nascent literature on Europeanization. The book is arranged in six parts: I. Theorizing Europeanization (three chapters); II. Comparing Institutional Contexts (three chapters); III. Europeanization and Policy Analysis (three chapters); Interest Groups and Europeanization (two chapters); V. Understanding ‘Europe’ as a Policy Model (two chapters); and VI. Conclusion. Less

The Politics of the Euro-Zone: Stability or Breakdown?

Kenneth Dyson

The Euro‐zone represents the single most important step in European integration since 1957 and one of the boldest economic, monetary, and political projects in modern history. This book ... More

The Euro‐zone represents the single most important step in European integration since 1957 and one of the boldest economic, monetary, and political projects in modern history. This book examines the main political questions raised by the birth of the Euro‐zone on 1 January 1999, and argues for a more informed analysis and assessment of its nature, operation, and prospects. How does it operate? What does it mean for European states and the strategies of their governments? What are its prospects for stability? What kinds of measures are needed to strengthen its capacity to withstand crises? The book stresses the central role of the European Central Bank (ECB) in the Euro‐zone, and explains the extent of the ECB's authority and power as an engine of European integration. An innovative aspect of the book is its application of a strength–strain model for assessing the Euro‐zone's stability. It concludes that such stability will be a function of three factors: first, how far its political culture proves to be influenced by the principles of Kant, rather than of Locke or Hobbes; second, the quality of its policy instruments for tackling liquidity as well as debt traps; third, the speed and efficiency of its mechanisms for bench‐marking, policy‐transfer, and lesson‐drawing. Less

The Regimes of European Integration: Constructing Governance of the Single Market

Shawn Donnelly

The regulation of financial markets and companies in Europe has undergone significant changes over the last decade. The Commission, Member States, and Parliament constructed regimes that ... More

The regulation of financial markets and companies in Europe has undergone significant changes over the last decade. The Commission, Member States, and Parliament constructed regimes that facilitate new legislation, sanction delegation to the Commission for financial market law, and structure the cross‐border regulation of companies within the single market. The substance of this book is about that regime development. In creating the regimes discussed in this book, European Union (EU) leaders contributed to the ongoing constitutionalization of Europe by contesting and constructing norms. Each of the regimes required an explicit definition of the vertical relationship between the EU and the member states, and of the horizontal relationship among the member states. It defined the kind of regulatory state that would be required, the mix of European and national bodies involved, and the procedures they were to follow in carrying out their functions. It also defined what kinds of national variation in related economic and social policy would be regarded as legitimate. As they made these agreements, European leaders simultaneously articulated what it meant to be a member state in the single market, and what it meant to delegate responsibilities to the EU. This constitutionalized these ideals by sorting out the issues of EU and national responsibilities in a powerfully authoritative way. The theory of this book is about demonstrating the normative foundations of these constitutional agreements and showing how they had to be built on the shoulders of national ones. Less